Computers



Dec. 5, 1961 O. H. SCHUCK COMPUTERS Filed Sept. 10, 1956 INVEN TOR. OSCAR I'IJGO SCHUCK ATTORAE'Y United States Patent 3,011,717 COMPUTERS Oscar Hugo Schuck, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company, Minneapolis, Minm, a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 10, 1956, Ser. No. 668,835 8 Claims. {CL 235193) This application relates to the field of computers and more specifically to means for determining the scheduled distance of a vehicle from its destination.

The object of the invention is to provide means receiving as inputs analogs of the scheduled speed of the vehicle, of its scheduled time of arrival, and of present time, and of deriving therefrom an analog of the scheduled distance of the vehicle from the destination.

Apparatus of this type is useful in air tratfic control, and may be made a part of airborne power control means, or may e incorporated in ground based equipment. One illustration of a use for such apparatus is given in Cummings Patent Number 2,766,953.

In the drawing, FIGURE 1 is a schematic showing of the invention and FIGURE 2 illustrates'the equipment in a specific illustrative case. In FIGURE 1 a clock 10, viewed from in front, is shown as having a dial 11 and hour and minute hands 12. and 13. The minutehand is coupled by a suitable mechanical connection 14 to the slider 15 of a voltage divider 16, viewed from behind, having a circular winding 17 with a 12 degree dead spot and a tap 2% located 18 degrees from one end of the winding. The winding is independently movable with respect to slider 15 by means of a second mechanical connection 21 which is arranged for operation by a knob 22. A sweep hand 23 is movable for rotation with respect to dial 11 and is driven by mechanical connection 21 rather than by clock 10. As indicated at 21a, winding 17, hand 23, and knob 22 can be operated by servo mechanism from a remote point if such operation is desired. Slider 15 is at tap when sweep hand 23 is at minute hand 13 on dial 11.

The apparatus also includes a transformer 24 having a primary winding 25 energized from a source 26 of alternating voltage and a secondary winding 27 with upper and lower terminals 39 and 31 and a tap 32 located at one quarter of the distance from terminal 39 to terminal 31. The winding 33 of a voltage divider 34 having a slider 35 is connected between terminal 31 and tap 32. Slider 35 is adjustable by a manual knob 36, through a mechanical connection 37. As shown at 37a, knob 36 and slider 35 may be adjusted by servo mechanism from a remote point if such operation is desired.

Winding 17 of voltage divider 16 is connected between terminal 39 of secondary winding 27 and slider 35 of voltage divider 34 through slip rings indicated at 40 and 41. Tap 20 of voltage divider 16 is grounded. The output of the apparatus appears between grounded terminal 42 and a terminal 43 connected to slider 15 through slip ring 44.

t is evident that of the secondary voltage of transformer 24 a portion determined by the position of slider 35 is impressed across winding 17, and of that portion a second portion is taken which is determined by the position of slider 15 with respect to tap 20. In other words, the two voltage dividers act as a multiplier.

In use slider 35 is positioned in accordance with the air speed of an aircraft, and slider 15 is set so that sweep hand 23 indicates the scheduled time of arrival of the aircraft at its destination. Only the minutes of this arrival time need be considered, because both winding 17 and slider 15 are continuously rotatable, and because the apparatus is not designed for use when the scheduled arrival time is more than 55 minutes from present time as indicated by clock 10.

' air speed of the aircraft.

voltage divider 34, in the interval represented by the displacement of slider 15 from tap 20.

The range of travel of slider 35 covers a range of air speeds of the aircraft from 100 miles per hour at tap 32 to 400 miles per hour at terminal 31. The larger 1 portion of winding 17 represents a range of 55 minutes in interval before arrival: the smaller portion of winding 17 represents 3 minutes of travel time and is provided to allow for the situation where an aircraft arrives at its destination a minute or so behind schedule. A reversal in the sense of the output at terminals 42 and 43 is of from a practical example.

course an indication that the aircraft is overdue.

Operation The operation of the computer will best be understood Suppose that an aircraft flying at 250 miles per hour is scheduled to arrive at an airport at 10:15 p.m., and for purposes of illustration let the output of secondary winding 27 be 40 volts. The computer can be used at any time less than 55 minutes before the scheduled time of arrival, that is, at any time after 9:20 pm. Suppose the present time is 9:30 pm. The operator sets slider 35 at a position representative of the airspeed of 250 miles per hour: the slider is spaced from the lower end of winding 33 by half the length of the winding, and hence is at a potential of 25 volts with respect to terminal 30. This voltage is impressed across winding 17: since the winding is 348 degrees in extent, the voltage gradient along the winding is volts per degree. One end of winding 17, being 330 degrees from tap 20, has a potential of 330 or 23.71 volts with respect to tap 2! and is of a selected phase. from tap 29, has a potential of 18 or 1.29 volts with respect to tap 20, and is of the opposite phase.

Now refer to FIGURE 2 of the drawing. The position of hour hand 12, midway between 9 and 10, may be ignored. Minute hand 13 points at 6, since the time is 30 minutes after the hour, and slider 15 is positioned simultaneously. The operator now turns knob 22 to.

' set sweep hand 23 at 3 on the clock dial, since the scheduled arrival time is 15 minutes past the hour. This action rotates winding 17 until tap 20 is at a point degreescounter-clockwise from slider 15. Between slider 15 and tap 29 there is now 276 degrees of winding 17, so that between slider 15 and ground there is a voltage of 270 or 19.11 volts.

After 15 minutes, at 9:45 p.m., slider 15 will have moved 90 degrees clockwise around winding 17, and will be spaced from tap 26 by 180 degrees. The voltage between slider and ground is thus X /g4g, or 12.93 volts. Fifteen minutes later, at 10:00 p.m., slider 25 will have moved another 90 degrees clockwise around winding 17, and will be spaced from tap 23 by 90 degrees. The voltage between slider 15 and ground is thus 9O or 6.48 volts. Still later, at 10:15 p.m., slider 15 will have moved another 90 degrees clockwise around winding 17, and will be at tap 20. The voltage between slider 1'5 and ground is thus zero.

The aircraft should have arrived by this time in order to complete its schedule, but sometimes an arrival is Patented Dec. 5, 1961 The other end of winding 17, being 18 degrees not on time. It is desirable that the computer be operable until the aircraft does arrive, and the ground connection to winding 17 is made at tap 29 instead of at the end of winding 17 to permit this. Thus at :17 pm, slider will have moved to a point 12 degrees counter-clockwise from tap 20, and will be at a potential of 12X25/343 or .76 volt with respect to ground, but of the opposite phase to the previous signal. This phase reversal is an indication that the aircraft is overdue, and should in fact be beyond the arrival point.

Numerous objects and advantages of the invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, and the novel features thereof are pointed out in the appended claims. The disclosure, however, is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts, within the principle of the invention, to the full extent indicated by the broad general use of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

I claim as my invention:

1. Apparatus of the class described comprising, in combination: a voltage divider including a tapped resistance member and a movable contact; means mounting said member and said contact for independent relative move ment; a constant speed motor; means connecting said motor in driving'relation to said movable contact, so that the movement of said contact in any interval is determined by the length of the interval; means causing movement of said member to displace the tap thereon from said movable contact to an extent determined by the length of a selected interval; and means energizing said member with a voltage determined by the magnitude of a selected speed, so that the output from said voltage divider between said tap and said moveable contact is a measure of the distance which may be traveled in the selected interval by a vehicle moving at the selected speed.

'2. In combination: a voltage divider including a resistance member, having a fixed tap, and a movable contact; means mounting said member and said contact for individual relative movement; a constant speed motor; means connecting said motor in driving relation to said movable contact to cause said individual movement thereof, so that the movement of said contact in any interval is dependent upon the length of the interval; independent means for causing said individual movement of said member to displace said fixed tap from said movable contact by an amount determined by the length of a selected interval, means electrically energizing said member, and output means supplying the voltage between said tap and said contact.

upon the length of the interval; independent means for causing said individual movement of said member to displace a predetermined point thereon from said movable contact by an amount determined by the length of a selected interval; means electrically energizing said member; and output means supplying the voltage between said point and said contact.

4. In combination, means supplying an analog of the scheduled time of arrival of a dirigible craft at a destination; means supplying an analog of present time, means supplying an analog of the scheduled speed of the vehicle, andcomputing means connected to receive said analogs for giving an output which is an analog of the scheduled distance of the craft from the destination.

5. In combination, means adjustable in accordance with present time and arrival time to give an output representative of interval before arrival, means adjustable to give an output representative of scheduled speed, and means connected to receive said outputs for deriving therefrom a signal representative of scheduled distance from destination.

6. In combination, a clock, a voltage divider comprising a circular resistance member and a slider pivoted for rotation in the plane of said member, means mounting said member and said contact for independent relative rotation, a clock having a minute hand, means connecting said slider to said minute hand for rotation therewith, a

V sweep hand, and means causing rotation of said sweep hand and simultaneous rotation of said member with re spect to said slider, in such a fashion that when said sweep hand indicates zero said slider is at a selected point on said resistance member, so that the displacement between said point and said slider is a measure of the interval between the present time and the setting of said sweep hand. g

7. In combination, a voltage divider comprising a circular resistance member and a slider pivoted for rotation in the plane of said member, means mounting said member and said contact 'for independent relative rotation, a clock having a minute hand, means connecting said slider to said minute hand for rotation therewith, a sweep hand, and means setting said sweep hand to the scheduled time of arrival of a vehicle at a destination and simultaneously rotating said member with respect to said slider, in such a fashion that when said sweep hand indicates zero said slider is at a selected point on said resistance member, so that the displacement between said point and said slider is a measure of the interval before arrival of the vehicle at the destination.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 together with means electrically energizing said member in dependence on the scheduled speed of the vehicle, so that a voltage appears between said point and said slider which is a measure of the scheduled distance of the vehicle from the destination.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Herbst Mar. 14, 1950 Evans Feb. 17, 1959 

